Chapter 013: The Enthusiastic Foolish Dog

Sure enough, the narrator showed up.

[Your tribe has consumed a property core, and even though the energy contained within it is not abundant, it will take some time for your tribe to absorb it given its current state.]

[You have discovered one of the uses of the core: it can be consumed by creatures.]

[As a reward, you have unlocked partial information regarding the core.]

[Creatures can consume cores, and by swallowing a core that corresponds to their own attribute, they can enhance their transcendence level. The higher the transcendence level, the greater the affinity with the corresponding attribute, thus making it easier to acquire transcendent abilities related to that attribute.]

[Please note: It is extremely dangerous for creatures to consume cores that do not correspond to their own attributes.]

[When devouring a restraining attribute the creature's transcendental affinity will decrease, easily falling into a state of confusion leading to a storm of transcendental abilities, please use the Attribute Core with caution.]

[You have now learned the partial information about the attribute core, and your tribe will complete digestion in ten minutes.]

"Ten minutes?"

Surprisingly fast. It seems the energy contained in the core is indeed far less than that of the black fruit.

Xu Zhi was busy controlling the dog to upgrade diligently in the game, while keeping an eye on Xiao Yi. As soon as the ten minutes were up, Xiao Yi opened its eyes on time.

But on the outside, there seemed to be no apparent changes, so Xu Zhi shifted his gaze back to the game screen.

And at that moment, the game screen thoughtfully displayed Xiao Yi's attribute sheet.

[Tribe: Snake Lv. 12

Spirit: 160

Physical: 640

Attribute: Blade

Traits: Toxin Lv. 5, Sharpness Lv. 3, Bloodlust Lv. 4, Cunning Lv. 2 → Lv. 3

Special Abilities: None]

"The trait 'Cunning' has leveled up directly, but the key point is the newly added 'Special Abilities' section, which thoughtfully displays the word 'None' for now."

Immediately, Xu Zhi recalled the narrator's earlier statement about the higher affinity leading to an easier acquisition of transcendent abilities related to the corresponding attribute.

In her opinion, traits can also be considered transcendent abilities, albeit most of them function in a more passive manner. Her tribe currently relies on their physical strength and these passive traits to hunt, lacking the ability to actively wield transcendent powers.

Perhaps the 'Special Abilities' section will contain active skills?

And acquiring an active skill might require the affinity to reach a certain level.

Even the modified [Bloodlust] ability she obtained from her tribe technically functions as a passive skill.

If this pattern applies to all creatures, it should also be true for human transcenders. However, in the year since transcenders emerged, there have been reports of newly awakened transcenders possessing powerful active abilities.

"Could it be that human transcenders do not follow this pattern? Is it only a rule for tribes?"

Xu Zhi tucked this question away in her heart, planning to verify it when she had the opportunity.

Notably, Xiao Yi's evolution points had also increased by 500, bringing the current total to 700/2000.

From these changes, it is not difficult to see that level somehow represents a creature's attribute affinity. The higher the level, the stronger the creature, and the higher its transcendent affinity.

"Perhaps after Xiao Yi gains a few more levels, it will acquire an active skill."

As soon as Xu Zhi thought about leveling up, she felt a headache coming on. Having experienced the convenience of auto-play, she was now dissatisfied with the need to manually control the first ten levels. She pondered how she could help the dog reach level 10 quickly and unlock automatic hunting.

As Xu Zhi gazed at Xiao Yi sitting idly by her side, a sudden inspiration struck her.

Why not let Xiao Yi help the dog level up?

The dog levels up slowly alone, but with Xiao Yi's help, the process would speed up.

Although this would slow down Xiao Yi's progress, Xu Zhi's priority now was to unlock the dog's automatic hunting ability.

With this thought in mind, Xu Zhi immediately began to make adjustments in the game. She set Xiao Yi's auto-hunt mode to include leveling up the dog and also controlled the dog to join Xiao Yi. While Xiao Yi would handle hunting automatically, Xu Zhi still had to manually operate the dog.

Therefore, Xu Zhi began deliberately searching for prey nearby that was stronger than the dog. The evolution points gained from defeating enemies above its level were indeed much higher, and the increase in evolution points was visible.

While leveling up the dog, Xu Zhi also kept a close eye on her surroundings. There was something that had been bothering her since earlier.

In this area, there are only mutated animals, no alien monsters born from the mist.

The dog had even encountered insane humans, but no alien monsters.

How could this be?

Before the mist gathered around Yun City, alien monsters emerged from the mist in various parts of the Federation. Most of them lacked rationality, had distorted and terrifying appearances, and hid in the shadows to attack humans. Each alien monster possessed transcendent abilities, making them extremely difficult to deal with, causing widespread panic among the people of the Federation.

Now, with almost 70% of the mist concentrated here, there should be even more alien monsters, but in the past few days, Xu Zhi had not encountered a single one.

"Is there something wrong?"

Xu Zhi didn't know much about alien monsters, having only seen them in news reports. Now, she had to figure things out herself and keep an eye out for any unusual occurrences.

While leveling up the dog, Xu Zhi also took the opportunity to explore the surrounding environment. Besides the disappearance of alien monsters, she noticed that the mutated animals seemed to be getting stronger. Compared to the animals Xiao Yi encountered when it was a lower level, the average level of the current mutated animals was at least two levels higher.

"They are also growing."

"Moreover, where did all these animals come from in the city?"

It seemed as if all the wild animals had suddenly migrated to the city overnight.

Is it because of the emergence of the mist and the departure of humans?

By the time night fell, the dog had smoothly leveled up to 10, but she still hadn't encountered a single alien monster.

"It's definitely more efficient with someone helping. If the dog had to level up alone, it would take at least another two days."

And with Xiao Yi by its side, I didn't need to specifically look for safe locations for leveling up. The time was reduced by more than half.

With a pleased expression, Xu Zhi watched as the last bit of the gray dog's leveling progress bar filled up on the screen. Anticipating, she clicked to view its attribute chart.

[Species: Dog Lv10

Spirit: 98

Physical: 740

Attribute: Blade

Traits: Strength Lv6, Olfaction Lv4, Alertness Lv2, Sharpness Lv3

Special Abilities: None]

[Current Evolution Points Required: 0/1000]

Compared to Xiao Yi's attributes at level 10, the dog's spirit was slightly inferior, but its physical strength was significantly stronger.

After the attributes were confirmed, the familiar narrative voice once again appeared.

[Your companion has reached level 10 and has gained sentience. You can now name it.]

Xu Zhi had already been thinking of a name and quickly typed in "Gouzi" (Doggy) with determination.

Although Xu Zhi was familiar with the automatic hunting process, it was now close to midnight, and she couldn't send Xiao Yi and the dog out to hunt. Instead, she decided to recall them to keep watch for her, as this was the first night in an unfamiliar location.

However, Xu Zhi had expected that after the dog reached level 10, perhaps a third companion would be unlocked, but the game did not follow that pattern. Instead, new content appeared.

[Congratulations, you have enabled two companions to have basic self-care abilities. When a companion reaches level 20 and evolves to a higher level, you will gain a third companion, and the selection range will increase.]

[You now possess the initial ability to compete in this conflict, but you are still too weak and would be easily defeated by the powerful. To establish a firm footing, you need even greater strength.]

[You have unlocked the ability: Spiritual Body.]

[By using an Attribute Core, you will obtain a randomly generated Spiritual Body that will be deployed randomly somewhere in this city for a limited time. Your consciousness can exist within the Spiritual Body and traverse the world. When the time limit expires, your consciousness will return, and the Spiritual Body will dissipate.]

[The more Attribute Cores you invest, the stronger the attributes and extraordinary abilities of the Spiritual Body will be, and the longer it will exist. If the Spiritual Body naturally dissipates after the time limit, all items you obtained while inhabiting it will be stored in the warehouse.]

[If the Spiritual Body dies before the time limit expires, you will not be able to bring back any items.]

As the narrative appeared, a gray pixelated girl's head icon appeared in the lower right corner of the game interface.

Curious, Xu Zhi clicked on the icon, and a pixelated image of a black-haired girl appeared in front of her.

Although this was a pixel art game, the graphics quality was surprisingly good, even exquisite. Now, Xu Zhi could see a hint of familiarity in the face of the pixelated girl dressed in a black sports outfit.

As for who the girl reminded her of, it was naturally herself.

"... It's strangely eerie."

On the right side of the girl's hand was a brown box labeled [Deployment Area,] which was a selectable item.

Xu Zhi clicked on it, and a choice appeared.

[Please set the number of Attribute Cores to invest.]

[Note: Randomly obtained extraordinary abilities will only come from the invested Attribute Cores.]

Xu Zhi was eager to try investing an Attribute Core right away, as she now possessed not only her own [Moth] Attribute Core, but also a[Winter] Attribute Core.

However, she glanced at the time and realized it was almost midnight. If a Spiritual Body was immediately generated after investing a core and couldn't be canceled, she wasn't sure if her Spiritual Body could walk in the middle of the night. It would be best not to waste it.

"Let's sleep for today."

Exactly as Xiao Yi and the dog were about to return, she was also looking forward to seeing the appearance and personality of the dog in reality.

"I hope it's not too clingy."

One Xiao Yi was already enough!

Soon, the two companions in the game screen returned to the entrance of the house, and Xu Zhi put the game console into her pocket and walked towards the door.

Honestly, she had already prepared herself mentally, but she still couldn't imagine what she would face after opening the door...

The moment the door opened, she was greeted with an overwhelmingly affectionate embrace from a gray dog. Before she could even utter a reprimand, the dog had already frantically wagged its tail and licked her face with its tongue.

Xu Chichih's fists tightened, the heavy "burden" on her body and the feeling of wetness on her face made her patience, which had been quite good, directly exhausted, and she immediately reached out her hand and pushed the other party away with all her might, but ...

It wouldn't budge.

... What a big silly thing!

Perhaps sensing her displeasure, the gray dog took a step back, allowing Xu Zhi to escape from the scene of being completely covered in fur. Oh, wait.

Xu Zhi noticed that it wasn't the dog that took a step back, but a black snake tail wrapped around its waist that forcibly pulled it away.

Even after being forcibly pulled away, the dog still tried to leap forward, determined to jump onto her again.

"Huh." Xu Zhi let out a cold laugh, looking at the silly dog staring at her with enthusiasm. The air was filled with the dog's special desire to be close to her, mixed with a slightly disdainful sentiment from the black snake.

She walked into the room and said to Xiao Yi, "Drag it inside and close the door."

After both of them entered, Xu Zhi tried to command the dog, "Sit down and don't move without my orders!"

Upon hearing her command, the big dog obediently sat on the ground. Xiao Yi released the snake tail, but even so, the dog's tail continued to wag like a propeller, its eyes staring at Xu Zhi with enthusiasm, and its mouth emitting eager whimpering sounds, seemingly unaware of Xu Zhi's current mood.

"... Why can't you even read someone's mood?"

Xu Zhi felt somewhat helpless and looked at Xiao Yi, "Keep an eye on it and don't let it move around."

She quickly went to wash her face, feeling annoyed that both companions were so affectionate. Xiao Yi still knew how to restrain itself, but this silly dog had no idea what restraint was!

"Is this a common trait among companions?"

Although it was good that companions were close to oneself, being overly affectionate could be a bit troublesome!

After washing up, Xu Zhi looked at the two companions in the room for a moment and sternly admonished, "Stay by my bedside at night, don't wander around, and don't disturb my sleep!"

Xiao Yi nodded quite humanly, while the dog... was truly like a silly dog that didn't understand human language, looking at her innocently with its tail wagging and even rubbing its paws on the ground, as if itching to move.

"... Forget it."

Xu Zhi felt inexplicably tired, thinking that Xiao Yi would keep an eye on the dog, so she didn't bother to say anything else and resolutely lay down in the bed.

The next morning, at five o'clock, the alarm clock rang as usual, and Xu Zhi struggled for a while in bed before reluctantly getting up with a sleepy face and picking up the game console. Even though it was the end of the world, she still had to wake up at five every morning!

"You two, go do what you need to do now."

As she had already instructed the two companions in the game to go out and look for black fruits, they were still slowly walking out, with Xiao Yi even dragging the reluctant dog with its tail. Xu Zhi looked on with a headache.

Fortunately, her words still had an effect. As soon as she disappeared from the dog's sight, it seemed to transform into a different dog, quickly dashing out of the building to complete the task she had assigned.

Xu Zhi didn't intend to idle around either. She once again opened the spiritual body interface, clicked on the deployment section, selected to invest a [Winter] attribute core, and clicked confirm.

[The number of cores you have invested is: 1]

[Duration of spiritual body's existence: 5 minutes]

"Only five minutes for one core?"

With her entire fortune, she could only support the spiritual body's actions for ten minutes. This was too miserly...

What could be done in five minutes?

Xu Zhi felt somewhat confused, but as she had previously thought, investing the core could not be canceled. Because the next second, the words [Randomly Generating Attributes] appeared next to the girl in the interface.

"Since it's already done, for the sake of it being my first time, please randomly give me good attributes!"

Xu Zhi clasped her hands and began a useless prayer.